Chamber golf tournament set for Aug. 28

By JON ANDERSON

The Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce is planning its 2023 Links Fore Scholars golf tournament at the Inverness Country Club on Aug. 28.

The tournament, which raises money to support college scholarships for employees of Hoover chamber members or the city (as well as their children), is set for an 8:30 a.m. start.

It will be a shotgun start, with four-person teams starting all at the same time on different holes. The tournament will be played in a scramble format, with each player taking a shot and the team choosing the best hit from among the four as the starting point for all players on the next swing.

In addition to the team competition, there will be a putting contest and closest-to-the-pin contest, said Toni Herrera-Bast, the chamber’s CEO and president. There also will be a hole-in-one challenge with a free vehicle lease from Infiniti of Birmingham for anyone who hits a hole in one on a particular hole.

The cost to participate is $200 per person. The

Links Fore Scholars

• WHERE: Inverness Country Club

• WHEN: Aug. 28, 8:30 a.m.

• COST: $200 per person

• WEB: business.hooverchamber. org/events/details/2023-links-forescholars-3152 chamber also was looking for a title sponsor for $15,000 and has other sponsorship opportunities ranging from $200 to $1,500.

All proceeds beyond expenses will go to the chamber’s scholarship fund, Herrera-Bast said. Last year’s tournament drew 88 players and raised $6,000 for scholarships, she said.

To register for the tournament, go to business.hooverchamber.org/events/ details/2023-links-fore-scholars-3152. The deadline to register is Monday, Aug. 21. To become a sponsor, call the chamber at 205-988-5672.

Relocation

So the church recently conducted a capital campaign, seeking to obtain pledges for $3.5 million over the next two years to fund both the church’s ongoing ministries and construction of a new building.

The new facility will be on seven acres just down the street, at 3200 Ross Bridge Parkway. The first phase is slated to be 18,000 square feet and include a sanctuary that seats 414 people, a couple of multi-use meeting rooms, a child care area, children’s worship space, lobby and gathering area, small kitchen, restrooms and outdoor playground, Carden said.

The plan is to break ground and begin construction in September and hopefully have the new first phase of the church building completed by the end of 2024, he said. The total cost of the first phase of construction is estimated to be $6.5 million, he said.

The church currently has about $500,000 in savings, including about $350,000 that can be used for construction, Carden said. The capital campaign the church just underwent includes a plan to bring in $750,000 a year over the next two years for construction and $1 million a year to fund ongoing ministry work, Carden said.

The congregation has been extremely receptive, already committing by mid-June more than $3.4 million of the $3.5 million goal, he said.

“I have been in pastoral ministry since 2004 and have had the privilege of serving in some wonderful churches,” Carden said. “However, I testify without hesitation that Church at Ross

Bridge is the most loving, healthy and generous church I have had the privilege to serve.”

Warren Austin, a member of the church for the past five years who joined the staff in a part-time role of missions director in February after retiring from his other job, said the congregation has responded unbelievably to the capital campaign.

“I think our people were hungry for that building. They know we need space,” Austin said. “They know we need to stand up and follow God.”

The current sanctuary seats about 175 people at full capacity, and even with two services, sometimes extra chairs have to be brought in to seat everyone, Austin said. The new building will give the church the opportunity to grow so it can reach even more people, he said.

While attendance at many churches has dropped following the pandemic, the Church at Ross Bridge has continued growing, Carden said. The church has added about 200 new members in the past three years, with membership now at about 365, he said.

Average attendance is about 260 people in person and 120 to 140 online, Carden said.

While the new sanctuary initially will seat 414 people, some temporary classroom space in the back can be converted in future phases to allow the sanctuary to expand and seat 633 people, Carden said.

The church initially plans to keep its current building and use it for midweek youth and children’s activities and office space, but they eventually may sell it when future construction phases are completed at the new campus, Carden said.

This is actually the 120th year for the Church at Ross Bridge, Carden said. The church was founded in 1903 as 11th Avenue Methodist-Episcopal Church, across from the UAB Highlands campus in Birmingham. After eight decades of ministry there, the church relocated to Lakeshore Drive in 1989, with many of its members having moved south, and renamed itself Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

Then in 2012 the church moved again to Ross Bridge and rebranded itself once more as a community-based church.

This past year, the Church at Ross Bridge — like more than 2,000 Methodist churches across the country — voted to separate from the United Methodist Church and become an independent Methodist church. While the United Methodist Church denomination has officially upheld bans on same-sex marriage and gay clergy, many U.S. congregations openly defied those bans, causing dissension in the denomination.

“We cherish the many years of ministry we shared as part of the United Methodist Church,” Carden said. “But over the last two years, our local church leadership became concerned that the complex challenges and uncertainties facing the institutional church could

NATHAN CARDEN

echo into the life of our local church, placing our church’s health and vision at risk.”

After a thorough six-month discernment process, the Church at Ross Bridge voted to separate, Carden said. “We are grateful for God’s faithfulness to us, and there is great enthusiasm in our congregation for what the future holds.”

That enthusiasm is reflected in financial giving, too, Carden said. Since starting this capital campaign, the average household giving for the congregation has increased 92%, he said.

Carden said he is very grateful to be part of a church that is willing to invest in something it believes is important.

”“It’s simple — we want to be a Christ-centered church that continues his ministry of hope and healing in the world,” Carden said. “We believe, and research indicates, that healthy local churches make communities more healthy. They foster strong interpersonal relationships with neighbors and contribute to the common good, especially those most in need. We want Church at Ross Bridge to have a positive impact beyond our walls in Hoover, serving the spiritual and physical needs of our community for current and future generations.”

Eight years ago, Mary was in a car wreck that caused injury to her neck. As she hoped to avoid surgery and medication, she was referred to physical therapy at TherapySouth in Hoover. Mary worked with Daniel to rehab from her accident and get back to her active lifestyle. Now, whenever Mary experiences acute pain or frequent headaches, she comes directly to see Daniel for treatment. Through manual adjustments, dry needling, stretching and more, Mary is able to not only get relief from her pain, but to improve her mobility, strength and overall wellness.

At first I didn’t know I could just come for wellness— I thought I had to be referred. But now the doors are opened because when I have pain, I can call and get an appointment quickly. I come in sick to my stomach because the pain is so bad, and I leave here singing a song because I feel so good.”

Mary stays active keeping up with her two young kids, riding horses, running and lifting weights.

“When I can’t do those things my quality of life suffers. I am a happier person when I can move, and Daniel makes me be able to move!

Hogan moved to Alabama in the summer of 1984 and started as a junior at Berry High School, which was the predecessor to Hoover High.

“I thought it was the worst thing that could have ever happened to me,” Hogan said. She was a three-sport athlete and was nervous about moving to a new city, having to make new friends and navigate everything that comes with joining a new school and new sports teams, she said.

But as it turned out, “it was one of the best things I can say happened to me in my life,” Hogan said.

She had a great experience at Berry and had an opportunity to be under the leadership of Bob Finley, who was her girls basketball coach and taught her a lot about the importance of having strong character, she said.

Hogan began her career as a science teacher and coach in 1992 at Pelham High School and stayed there four years. She got out of education and ran a gym with her husband for two years but then decided to give education another try.

She went to Vestavia Hills High School, where she spent six years as a teacher and coach and then three years as an assistant principal. She then was principal at Hewitt-Trussville High School for two years before coming to Hoover.

She spent two years as a teacher at Hoover from 2009 to 2011 and then 10 years as an assistant principal. Now she has Buccaneer orange blood flowing through her veins.

In 2018, Hogan was named Alabama’s Assistant Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and was one of three finalists for National Assistant Principal of the Year.

She’s excited and humbled to be named principal at Hoover High, she said. “I love Hoover and want to be able to serve the community, the students and the teachers and just take us to the next level.”

Hogan said she plans to focus on the culture and climate of the school and looks forward to talking with students and teachers about that.

“I’ve been away for two years,” she said. “I want to listen to them, and we want to build something great together.”

Hogan is just one of many changes among administrators in Hoover City Schools this year. At least 10 Hoover schools have new assistant principals, and both Hoover and Spain Park high schools have new athletic directors.

Harley Lamey, who has been the head wrestling coach at Hoover for the past two years, has replaced Andy Urban as athletic director at Hoover after Urban moved to Mountain Brook High School.

Josh Donaldson, formerly a track and cross-country coach at Homewood High School, is now leading athletics at Spain Park High, taking over from Patrick Kellogg, who retired.

Here are some other administrative changes:

► Hoover High math teacher Mary Johnson was named an assistant principal at Hoover, replacing Donna Smiley, who was promoted to coordinator of administrative services for the district.

► Eddie Cunningham, formerly an assistant principal at Homewood High School, is now an assistant principal at Spain Park High, replacing Brandon Key.

► Shonteria Culpepper has moved from an assistant principal job at Green Valley Elementary to become an assistant principal at Berry Middle, replacing Dana Ricks.

► Kerry Efurd, an interventionist at Bumpus Middle School, has been named an assistant principal at Bumpus, replacing Pamela Davis.

► Chelsea Bayko has moved from an assistant principal position at Bluff Park Elementary to become an assistant principal at Simmons Middle School, replacing Dominique Prince.

► Alfreda Brown has moved from a counselor role at Hoover High School to become an assistant principal at Simmons, replacing Amanda Giles.

► Emily Dunleavy, formerly an assistant principal in the Shelby County school system, now is an assistant principal at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School, replacing Meghan Denson.

► Denson has shifted to become an assistant principal at Bluff Park Elementary, replacing Bayko.

► Carl Berryhill, formerly an assistant principal at Gwin Elementary, has moved to an assistant principal job at Green Valley

Elementary, replacing Culpepper.

► Hunter Nichols, a teacher from Jasper City Schools, is now an assistant principal at Gwin, replacing Berryhill.

► Matthew Stephens, formerly a math teacher at Hoover High, now is an assistant principal at Riverchase Elementary, replacing Dana Junkin.

Later in the school year, Hoover will see a change at the very top of the system, as Superintendent Dee Fowler takes his second retirement. Fowler on July 11 announced his retirement would become effective Sept. 30, though he could possibly leave earlier and serve as a consultant if another superintendent is brought on more quickly.

Stay tuned to hooversun.com for any developments in the superintendent search.

Capital Projects

Hoover schools have seen a host of physical improvements to school campuses over the summer, including:

► A $1.4 million upgrade to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in 24 classrooms at Gwin Elementary School.

► A $1.4 million project to replace about two-thirds of the roof at Simmons Middle School. The rest of the roof is scheduled to be replaced next summer, Operations Director Matt Wilson said.

► A $1.2 million job to build a new athletic storage facility and restrooms at Bumpus Middle School.

► A $744,233 job to replace a cooling tower in the air conditioning system at Riverchase Elementary.

► A $707,000 renovation and expansion of the football locker room at Hoover High, adding more shower heads and restroom facilities. The school also is using local school money to replace the lockers, Wilson said.

► A $577,672 job to add a cosmetology and barbering classroom at the Riverchase Career Connection Center, for a new academy in that field.

► New playgrounds at Trace Crossings and Riverchase elementary schools, costing $249,000 each.

► About 290 other projects throughout the district, including painting, floor replacements, sidewalk repairs, glass replacement, gym floor resurfacing, pressure washing, tree removal and lighting upgrades.

Several other big capital projects will continue during the school year, including a $15.4 million new performing arts center at Hoover High. The roughly 35,000-squarefoot facility will include a 940-seat auditorium, Wilson said. In mid-July, workers were about 80% done with steel work and about 50% done with brick work, and internal construction was to follow, Wilson said. The performing arts center is scheduled to be complete by January, he said.

The school district also will be building new restrooms for the baseball, softball and soccer fields at Hoover High and baseball and softball fields at Spain Park High. The job was estimated to cost $1.2 million and should be complete in time for the start of those spring sport seasons, Wilson said.

Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, school officials expect to complete installation of new kitchen hoods at Simmons Middle School and Gwin Elementary, for a combined cost of $765,000.

Design work is being done for a theater renovation at Spain Park High School, including a new sound and lighting system, stage modifications and adjustments to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, Wilson said. The budget for that project is $1.5 million, and work should begin in March and be completed by the start of the 2024-25 school year, he said.

ENROLLMENT, ACADEMICS

The Hoover school system expects to have 13,143 students this school year, but that’s a conservative number and could be higher, Fowler said. The school district’s enrollment has been shrinking, falling by 638 students over the past seven years, Fowler said.

He attributes that to a slight population decline, an aging population with fewer school-age children and the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said motivated some parents to shift toward private, virtual or home schooling options.

As a result of a declining student population, Hoover schools have reduced their teaching workforce the past two years, cutting about 20 teaching positions last year and another 16 this year, he said.

The declining enrollment has made school officials less concerned about school crowding, but home building and growth in the western part of the city likely will lead eventually to a need to rezone more students from Hoover High School to Spain Park High, Fowler said. However, that’s not an immediate concern, he said.

Fowler said student safety is the No. 1 priority for school officials, but academics are the driving focus.

“We’ll build this district on the rock of academics, and everything goes back to academics,” he said. “We have very high expectations for teaching and learning.”

School officials have been pleased with the academic progress shown since students have returned from the COVID-19 shutdown, Chief Academic Officer Chris Robbins said.

Achievement and growth test scores have been increasing for students as a whole, as well as for students from low-income families, and the percentage of students needing academic intervention has been declining, Robbins said. Hoover educators want to continue to drive those scores in the right direction, using data to drive decision making, he said.

This school year, they’ll focus on continuing to make sure teachers are teaching the state’s new math and English standards and using the proper resources, Robbins said. There also is a continued focus on professional development, with teachers getting two paid days of professional development the past two summers, he said. The requirement for third graders to be reading on grade level to be promoted to fourth grade goes into effect at the end of this school year, after being delayed previously, Robbins said.

The most recent test scores haven’t been released yet, but the previous year’s test scores showed 90% of Hoover’s third graders reading on grade level, Robbins said.

The past two summers, Hoover has held a summer literacy and math camp to help struggling students catch up, he said. About 150 students in grades 1-3 participated this summer, he said. Any students not at grade level by the end of this school year can retake the test after attending a summer camp, he said. There also are exceptions for some students, such as special needs students or those who speak English as a second language, he said.

The Hoover school district also has started new leadership academies to help assistant principals and teachers grow in their administrative and leadership skills, said Terry Lamar, Hoover’s chief administrative officer.

Another change for this year is all new Chromebooks and classroom projectors at Hoover High School. The computers are changed out every five years, Chief Technology Officer Brian Phillips said. Spain Park students’ Chromebooks were replaced last year, and next year, students in all elementary schools will get new Chromebooks, he said.

The Hoover City Schools website and all individual school websites also will get a new look, with a change to a new website provider that should happen in August, Phillips said.